We need your voice to thrive in this partnership with new developments.
Learn and collaborate with us to collect community needs and wants into our CBA.
Tuesday, December 8 from 6:00-8:00PM CST
Rice Management Company is asking for $72 million of public funds to build an Innovation District that threatens Third Ward residents with displacement and cultural erasure.
A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) between HCEDD and RMC will put the Innovation District on a path to equity. Join us December 8th to learn how Rice Management Company, the Midtown Redevelopment Authority, and our Houston City Council can choose to make Houston a place where Black communities matter.
Before December 8th, invite your City Council members to learn about Community Benefits Agreements, this effort, and how they can make a difference. Every City Council member, regardless of district, has the power to make this Community Benefits Agreement happen.
During the meeting, we’ll also share updates on the Rice Management Company’s correspondence with HCEDD’s negotiation team.
How to participate: The meeting will be held on Zoom. The Zoom link and phone number will be sent the day of the meeting. You can also watch the meeting live on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
On Tuesday, November 17 from 6:00-8:00PM CST, join the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement (HCEDD) to:
To join the meeting on Zoom by phone or computer, follow the link or phone number that will be emailed to you by an HCEDD Organizer on the day of the meeting.
To watch the meeting live, tune in to the livestream on HCEDD's Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube.
This is the first in a series of live conversations with Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) scholars and organizers from around the country. A continuation of HCEDD's practice of issuing education on the power and process of CBAs, these conversations will seek to strictly define the merits of CBAs, their use as a tool it's used to solidify developer promises and enshrine community power.
On Tuesday, October 13th from 6:00-7:30PM, we are gathering for a community call to debrief on Rice Management Company and the City of Houston's 3 innapropriate and misinformative "Innovation District Stakeholder Workshops."
Over the past 2 weeks, participating community members and panelists alike were strong in their committement to insist on the need for a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with HCEDD to
However, by closing access to the chat, dismissing community members' questions, and promoting misinformation about CBAs, the workshop hosts showed outright disrespect to the Third Ward community and an intentional disregard for an authentic CBA process.
Following our debrief, we will collectively discuss and decide our next steps as we persist towards developing, securing, enforcing, and sustaining a CBA between Rice Management Company and HCEDD to protect Third Ward.
OR
Residents, students, community leaders, and organizations will gather to share and discuss:
The community will select the negotiating team who will represent HCEDD in negotiations with Rice Management Co. and the City of Houston.
The Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement is gathering at 6:00 on Tuesday, February 14th, 2020 at Wesley AME Church (2209 Emancipation Ave). Our goal is to develop, secure, enforce, and sustain a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA)* with Rice Management Company as they develop the 16-acre South Main Innovation District at the edge of Third Ward.
On the 14th, we’ll solidify our vision for the CBA, as well as our coalition agreement. We will also decide on a negotiation team who will represent the coalition in deliberations with Rice Management Company.
*CBAs are “project-specific contracts between developers or cities and community coalitions.” They are “legally binding, enforceable agreements that call for a range of benefits to be produced by the development project. They allow community groups to have a voice in shaping a project, to press for community benefits that are tailored to their particular needs, and to enforce developers’ promises” (Lowe p. 73).
This Senate will be focused on dialogue surrounding the recent introduction of a Resolution calling for endorsement of a Community Benefits Agreement process for the Innovation District. The Rice Management Company, the funder and developer for this project, will be giving a presentation on current work related to social and community implications of the project as well as the development project's process overall. Please come if you are interested in efforts to critically engagement with Houston and discuss the impacts of the South Main Innovation District.
We will also be voting on a Resolution endorsing a letter to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion resources at Rice, Refugee Resettlement, as well as discussing the SA Elections timeline.
Invite your favorite faculty/staff members to come to this come-and-go event where students will share
- what they are doing to support the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement (HCEDD)
- how Rice faculty/staff can support the HCEDD's goal of developing, securing, sustaining, and enforcing and Community Benefits Agreement with Rice Management Company as they develop the Innovation District on the edge of Third Ward.
Join us for lunch discussions about why and how we're leveraging our power and resources as students to support the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement in developing, securing, enforcing, and sustaining a Community Benefits Agreement with Rice Management Company as they develop the Innovation District on the edge of Third Ward.
Locations:
-Sid Richardson
-Jones
-Duncan
-Hanszen
-Brown
-McMurtry
-Martel
The Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement is gathering at 6:00 on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 at Wesley AME Church (2209 Emancipation Ave). Our goal is to develop, secure, enforce, and sustain a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA)* with Rice Management Company as they develop the 16-acre South Main Innovation District at the edge of Third Ward.
Tuesday December 17th at 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM, the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement will have a phone call meeting. In this meeting, you will be refreshed on the power and process of developing, securing, and sustaining a community benefits agreement. Then, you will be electronically separated into your working groups.
To clear up earlier confusion, we have altered the names of some working groups and added descriptions:
Previous
Present
Working Group Description
Housing
Housing
Concerns residential properties Rice University currently owns, those they will be developing in the future, the effect of the economic footprint of the whole development on property values/rents, and protections against displacement for people who are unhoused in the area.
Jobs
Labor
Concerns hiring, contracting and subcontracting, wages, benefits, and working conditions for workers, including construction.
Businesses
Black Businesses
Concerns commercial space, loans, and venture capital for Black businesses of any/all sectors.
Innovation
Tech Entrepreneurship
Concerns programming aspects of the development such as the Ion Smart Cities Accelerator, Black start-ups, tech start-up pipelines, big and small tech companies, creating employers.
Education
Education
Concerns with investment in K-12 and collegiate education and career preparation, as well as programming for parents and community members.
Food access
Food Access
Concerns the access to healthy food options sold by small business, the impact of the Fiesta and what replaces it on food security and affordability in the neighborhood, and educational programming that fosters a gardening culture.
Heritage
Preservation
Leveraging Innovation District resources and capital to protect against cultural erasure and promote Black/Third Ward centered branding and historical context, as well as Black/Third Ward centered design of spaces.
In preparation for tomorrow, there is one thing we ask of you: choose which one working group you want to be placed in for the break out session, as we will ask you for that information during introduction time.
Call Details:
Topic: Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement
Time: Dec 17, 2019 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 246 217 111
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The Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement is gathering for a second time at 6:00 on Thursday, December 3, 2019 at Wesley AME Church (2209 Emancipation Ave). Last month, we announced our goal of securing a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with Rice Management Company as they develop the 16-acre Innovation District around the old Sears building and Fiesta at the edge of Third Ward.
Congratulations! We succeeded in delaying the variance request hearing for Rice’s new parking garage from November 18th to Thursday, December 5th! Thank you to all who emailed the Planning Commission. Now that we have their attention, it’s time to show how powerful we are together.
Before we go to the planning commission on December 5th, we will gather on December 3rd to review the CBA process and timeline and present the community’s visions on the following CBA working group topics:
Then, we will appoint a negotiation team who will represent the Coalition in meetings with the developers.
Things to do before the meeting:
See you there and take care!
- Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement
P.S. Want to support the coalition as an individual or organization? Email Mary Claire Neal at mcn3@rice.edu to learn more about endorsing the Coalition, offering technical support, or joining a working group.
HOUSTON, TX – (November 9, 2019) – Community members, students, churches, advocacy groups, and supporting business/organizations will convene on November 12, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Wesley Chapel A.M.E. Church (2209 Emancipation Ave. Houston, TX 77003) to establish the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement.
The goal of the coalition is to develop and secure a Community Benefits Agreement with Rice Management Company as the develop the South Main Innovation District.
A Community Benefits Agreement is a “project‐specific contract between developers or cities and community coalitions. CBAs are legally binding, enforceable agreements that call for a range of benefits to be produced by the development project. They allow community groups to have a voice in shaping a project, to press for community benefits that are tailored to their particular needs, and to enforce developer’s promises.” (Source: Dr. Jeffrey Lowe, East Biloxi Community Benefits Report)
The meeting will be facilitated by Dr. Assata Richards, member of the Third Ward Is Home Civic Club, and Carl Davis, Chair of Houston Society for Change. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the purpose, process, and proposed contents of the Community Benefits Agreement, which includes the following issues:
Press and student journalists are invited to attend. Facilitators and organizers will be available for interviews after the meeting.
For more information, please contact Mary Claire Neal, Student Coalition for a Just and Equitable Innovation Corridor, at mcn3@rice.edu or 903-330-6349.